Cote d'Ivoire announces French military exit after decades-long stay

RFI

1 January 2025 at 5:36 am·1-min read

French soldiers are to leave the military base in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, in January.

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has announced that French forces will hand over control of their military base in Abidjan in January, continuing the former colonial power’s military exit from West Africa.

In his end-of-year address to the nation on Tuesday, Ouattara said the withdrawal from the 43rd BIMA (Infantry and Marine Battalion of Port-Bouet) – which ends a military presence that has lasted for decades – would be “coordinated and organised”.

The president urged Ivorians to take pride in the modernised state of their armed forces.

The base, which currently hosts around 1,000 French soldiers, will be renamed Général Ouattara Thomas d'Aquin after the head of the Ivorian Chief of Staff, news agency AFP reported.

Military shift

France’s military presence in West and Central Africa is shrinking as the former colonial power reconfigures its strategy. Troop numbers will be reduced to 600, down from around 2,200, as part of this shift.

France to reduce military presence in West and Central Africa

The government of Chad – a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic militants in the region – abruptly ended its defence cooperation pact with France in November.

France handed over the Faya military base in the desertic north of Chad, on 26 December.

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Military shift

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